The purpose of this article
is to
present the biblical reasons why Herb Kersten, a Seventh-day Adventist
evangelist in Australia, is teaching serious error regarding the proper
interpretation of Revelation 13:18 and the number 666. The following is
quoted from a previous but recent version of Unknown Facts About 666,
a publication of HKEA (Herb
Kersten Evangelistic Alliance):

Herb Kersten’s
presentation on 666
was broadcast by 3ABN Proclaim during April 2011. The presentation
differs from past presentations on 666 by Pr Doug Batchelor, Pr Kenneth
Cox and Pr Stephen Bohr. The traditional view on 666 is that it applies
to a papal title ‘Vicarius Filii Dei’ which is allegedly found on papal
tiaras.

Herb Kersten is not in the
business
of preaching error. He aims for extreme accuracy because of the
enormous responsibility that comes with public presentations that are
broadcast on 3ABN and the thousands of DVDs that are also produced. In
addition his presentations are viewable online. Such a responsibility
is huge and requires that the presenter prayerfully commit to many
hundreds of hours of research into the Scriptures, Spirit Of Prophecy
and the publications of leading scholars of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church such as Dr John Paulien, Dr Angel Rodriguez, Dr Ranko Stefanovic
to name a few.

We will begin in the book of Daniel, which gives
us
important information in a repeat and enlarge format regarding the
Antichrist that is paralleled in Revelation.

Dan 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold,
there
came up among them another little horn, before whom there were
three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this
horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great
things.

Dan 7:19 Then I would know the truth of the
fourth
beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose
teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in
pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;
Dan 7:20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other
which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had
eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was
more stout than his fellows.

Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words
against
the most High, ...

Now to Daniel 8 for the parallel there:

Dan 8:9 And out of one of them came forth a little
horn, ...
Dan 8:10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast
down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon
them.
Dan 8:11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host,
...

We continue to the willful king of Daniel 11:

Dan 11:36 And the king shall do according to
his
will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every
god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods,

Next to Paul's second epistle to Thessalonica:

2 Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means:
for
that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2 Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God.

The key to understanding this important
characteristic of the Antichrist is found in Revelation, where it is
very clearly defined for us:

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea,
and
saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns,
and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of
blasphemy.

Note that this "name of blasphemy" is associated
with all the heads of the sea beast. The word translated
"name" of
blasphemy in Rev. 13:1 is onoma:

G3686. onoma, on'-om-ah; from a presumed der.
of
the base of G1097 (comp. G3685); a "name" (lit. or fig.) [authority,
character]:--called, (+ sur-) name (-d).

The same word is translated "name" in the
following
verse:

Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in
blasphemy
against God, to blaspheme his name, and his
tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

Now, who cannot immediately see that in Daniel
7, 8,
11, and 2 Thes. 2:3-4 the great words, the words by which he, the
Antichrist, magnifies himself, are blasphemous words, from Revelation
13? The Antichrist is not an open violent opposer of Christ, he is a
subtle usurper within the church that is guilty of blasphemy. This
"name of blasphemy" of the sea beast is again mentioned in the key
verses that are the focus of this discussion:

Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell,
save
he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number
of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the
number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is
Six hundred threescore and six.

So from the blasphemous name of the beast from
the
sea, the Antichrist, the number 666 can be counted.

The solution to the enigma:

The mark of authority of the papal system is
that
it thinks to change times and laws of the most high (Dan. 7:25) This is
defined clearly in Rev. 14:7 by the first angel's message as the
pre-advent judgment and the Sabbath commandment.

The blasphemous name of the beast, which is
in
fact a title, is Vicarius Filii Dei, by which the papal system usurps
Christ's authority, claiming for itself the power to dispense with the
law of God, or modify it at will. Two commandments of God's law have
been altered by the papacy, the second regarding idolatry, and the
fourth regarding the seventh day Sabbath. The title clearly reveals the
character of the Antichrist, in fact Antichrist and Vicarius Filii Dei
are synonymous, they both mean one who takes the place of Christ, a
usurper.

We are told to find a boastful blasphemous
title
that yields six hundred sixty six arithmetically. The number
six hundred sixty six is the number of his name (arithmos G706
onoma G3686) mentioned in Rev. 13:17,18, and 15:2. The number is not
readily apparent from the title, it must be counted or reckoned, as the
text clearly indicates.

G706. arithmos, ar-ith-mos'; from G142; a
number
(as reckoned up):--number.
G3686. onoma, on'-om-ah; from a presumed der. of the base of G1097
(comp. G3685); a "name" (lit. or fig.) [authority, character]:--called,
(+ sur-) name (-d).

Ellen White made the following pertinent remark:

The civil power is called
to the aid
of the Church in persecuting those who keep holy the seventh day. The
Church and the world are united in trampling upon God's commandments,
and those who obey these commandments they threaten with death. John
declares, "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war
with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ." The decree goes forth that no man
shall be allowed to buy or sell save he that has the mark or the number of the Beast. {RH,
July 16, 1901 par. 6}

Linking the mark or
the number
of the Beast, to the Sunday law as she does, a distinction is evident
between them. The mark applies to Sundaykeeping Protestants and those
who comply simply to avoid persecution, while the number/name of the
Beast apples to Catholics who comply in obedience to the Pope and
mother church, which parallels the mark in the hand or in the forehead
(Rev. 13:16). Clearly there is an important difference between the
mark, and the number/name of the Beast, as only one of the two is
necessary to be in compliance with the Sunday law and escape
persecution.

Strong's Concordance Greek G5516.

The following erroneous assertion is made by
Herb
Kersten:

In Revelation 13:18 it
should be noted that
the
Greek text of the oldest manuscripts up to about the ninth or tenth
century uniformly have the number commonly translated as 666 written
out in full, namely: 'hexakosioi hexekonta hex' or 'six hundred sixty
and six'. Jerome’s Vulgate also follows this practice. In contrast the
Textus Receptus which is the basis of the KJV and the Majority Text,
presents it as three abbreviated Greek letters - or 666. This later
notation which uses the abbreviated Greek letters invested with
numerical values arose many centuries after John and was therefore
completely unknown to him.

Isopsephy (iso
meaning "equal" and psephos
meaning "pebble") is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew system called
gematria, by which number values of the letters in a word add up to a
resulting number. Revelation which was written in Greek, in 13:18 tells
the reader to count the number of the beast. There John uses the word
psephizo (G5585) for "count", which is derived from G5586, the same
Greek word that composes Isopsephy. John was indicating that
numerology, counting the numeric value of a name, was the way to arrive
at the solution of six hundred
sixty six. "Pythagorean sources
would
indicate that this practice goes back at least six or seven centuries
prior to 180 CE (the approximate date that Irenaeus produced his
heresiology)". - Source. See
Irenaeus below.

G5585. psephizo,
psay-fid'-zo; from G5586; to use pebbles in enumeration, i.e. (gen.) to
compute:--count.

G5586. psephos,
psay'-fos;
from the same as G5584; a pebble (as worn smooth by handling), i.e. (by
impl. of use as a counter or ballot) a verdict (of acquittal) or ticket
(of admission); a vote:--stone, voice.

Below is verse 18 with Chi Xi Stigma (underlined
in
red) in P47, a third century papyrus in the Chester Beatty collection.

By the black line above Chi Xi Stigma, an abbreviation is
being
indicated by the copyist, in this case indicating the characters
represent their numerical values, rather than their alphabetic meaning.
These each have a different numerical value. They are Chi = 600,
Xi = 60, Stigma = 6. Papyrus 47 (P47) is considered to be perhaps the
earliest extant copy of any portion of Revelation. Early church fathers
within a few years of Revelation being penned were already applying
isopsephy (Greek), gematria (Hebrew), or Roman numeral values to solve
the riddle.

1. Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number
being found in all the most approved and ancient copies [of the
Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their
testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the
number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek
mode of calculation [isopsephy] by the [value of] the letters contained
in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six; that is, the
number of tens shall be equal to that of the hundreds, and the number
of hundreds equal to that of the units (for that number which
[expresses] the digit six being adhered to throughout, indicates the
recapitulations of that apostasy, taken in its full extent, which
occurred at the beginning, during the intermediate periods, and which
shall take place at the end) ...

Moreover, another danger, by no means trifling, shall
overtake
those who falsely presume that they know the name of Antichrist. For if
these men assume one [number], when this [Antichrist] shall come having
another, they will be easily led away by him, as supposing him not to
be the expected one, who must be guarded against. ...

2. These men, therefore, ought to learn [what really is the state of
the case], and go back to the true number of the name, that they be not
reckoned among false prophets. But, knowing the sure number declared by
Scripture, that is, six hundred sixty and six, let them await, in the
first place, the division of the kingdom into ten; then, in the next
place, when these kings are reigning, and beginning to set their
affairs in order, and advance their kingdom, [let them learn] to
acknowledge that he who shall come claiming the kingdom for himself,
and shall terrify those men of whom we have been speaking, having a
name containing the aforesaid number, is truly the abomination of
desolation. ...

3. It is therefore more certain, and less hazardous, to
await
the fulfillment of the prophecy, than to be making surmises, and
casting about for any names that may present themselves, inasmuch as
many names can be found possessing the number mentioned; and the same
question will, after all, remain unsolved. For if there are many names
found possessing this number, it will be asked which among them shall
the coming man bear. It is not through a want of names containing the
number of that name that I say this, but on account of the fear of God,
and zeal for the truth: for the name Evanthas (EUAN QAS) contains the
required number, but I make no allegation regarding it. Then also
Lateinos (LATEINOS) has the number six hundred and sixty-six; and it is
a very probable [solution], this being the name of the last kingdom [of
the four seen by Daniel]. For the Latins are they who at present bear
rule: ...

Irenaeus, while also noting 3 sixes in the first paragraph,
and
equating that with apostasy, wisely recommends subsequently that no
serious attempt be made to solve the riddle until it becomes plainly
evident who it should be applied to when the little horn of Daniel 7 is
identified, as he has a zeal for the truth and a fear of God. This
method will eliminate erroneous results. This methodology is not
evident in Herb's video What is 666?
He needs to retract it.

Below is verse 18 in the Greek
Textus Receptus. Again, as in P47, at the end of the verse we have
Chi Xi Stigma, 600 60 6.

Attempts to interpret this based on 6 tripled
are erroneous, that is not how it is expressed. The total
calculation is the number six hundred sixty six, not 3 sixes. See also
this 1841 English Hexpla
which has the Greek and 6 English translations. Below is verse 18 in
the Codex
Alexandrinus. Here the Greek in
the bottom line reads hexakosioi (six-hundred) hexakonta
(sixty) hex (six). Click the image to see the whole page.

Below is Revelation 13:18 in the Codex
Sinaiticus.Beginning on the second line from the bottom it reads
hexakosioi (six-hundred), hexakon
ta (sixty) hex (six) ·

Again it is not expressed as three sixes, but
rather six hundred sixty six. The
three sixes / imperfect number 6 interpretation is a case of eisegesis,
forcing into the text something that simply is not there. The number
666 mathematically is 111 sixes, if you must, not 3, and we are told to
count the number of a name, not to discern a symbolic meaning
from 6, or from 666. An example of how this symbolic
interpretation is misapplied is Goliath in 1 Sam 17:4-8. Because of all
the sixes attributed to Goliath, he is declared "a perfect type of a
future antichrist", because "he had 666 stamped all over him." (see the
above video) Yet the text does not have a single instance of 666:

1 Sam 17:4 And there went out a champion out
of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height
was
six cubits and a span.
1 Sam 17:5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was
armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand
shekels of brass.
1 Sam 17:6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of
brass between his shoulders.
1 Sam 17:7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his
spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a
shield went before him.
1 Sam 17:8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said
unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a
Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let
him come down to me.

The Antichrist is not an open violent opposer
of God's people, a feared Philistine taunting and challenging them from
the outside. He is a Judas, a subtle deceiver, professing publicly to
be a faithful disciple, in the church, yet a blasphemous son of
perdition covertly seeking the overthrow of Christ's sovereignty (Isa
14:13-14, John 17:12, 2 Thess 2:3). This example of Goliath would have
one chasing down sixes throughout the Bible that only serve to distract
and obscure, not solve 666, which should be read as six hundred sixty
six, not six six six. Here is a similar erroneous statement:

There
is an obvious allusion here to Daniel 3 in which a political leader
(Babylon’s Nebuchadnezaar) issued a civil law to worship an image whose
measurements were 666 (Dan 3:1).

Dan 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image
of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof
six
cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

There isn't any 666 in the measurements of the
statue. None.

For the next important bit of context in this
mystery, we notice this verse:

Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on
his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

The same Greek word onoma is used in that
verse for "name". Note that it refers to a Title of Jesus. So
Revelation 13:1, 6, 17 and 18 can refer to a blasphemous title
assumed by the heads of the sea beast. In the Hebrew of Isaiah we also
see a name can be a title:

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a
son
is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace.

The same wisdom that unlocks the name/number of
the sea beast is mentioned in Revelation 17:

Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit
into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads
and ten
horns.

So there are many blasphemous titles
assumed
by the Antichrist, not just the one in particular that adds up to 666.

Rev 17:9 And here is the mind which hath
wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

When all the other characteristics of the
Antichrist are listed and examined first, and only then the subsequent
addition of what is presented here, this points us directly and
unerringly with
laser-like precision to the apostate harlot woman (church) seated in
Rome, the Roman Catholic Church.

The mistake that Herb Kersten makes, along with
the
Roman Catholic apologists, is attempting an application of 666 in
complete isolation, at random, without first considering and solving
the many other characteristics the Bible gives us to exactly identify
the Antichrist as the papacy, not just one man, but the entire dynasty
of Popes. The mystery of 666 is not where you should begin your search
for the Antichrist, it is where you end it.

So, now let's let scripture tell us a definition
of
blasphemy:

John 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again
to
stone him.
John 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works
have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone
me?
John 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee
not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man,
makest thyself God.

With the above in mind:

ALL OF CHRIST'S SCRIPTURAL NAMES ARE ALSO APPLIED TO THE POPE

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine
(1542-1621), a Doctor of the Church, in his Disputationes de
controversiis christianae fidei, Adversus hujus temporis Haereticos
(Debates on the Christian Controversies of Faith Against Contemporary
Heresy), claimed that all the names that Scripture applies to
Christ are also to be applied to the Pope. In Volume 2, LIBER
SECVUNDUS, De Conciliorum auctoritate (Book 2, The Authority of
Councils) we find the following:

THIRD proposition: ...
SECOND it is proved by an argument, founded in the
scriptures: for all the names, which in the scriptures are applied to
Christ, proving him to be above the Church, are in like manner applied
to the Pontiff: as first, Christ is head of the family in his own
house, which is the Church. The Pontiff is high steward in the same,
that is, he is head of the family in the place of Christ, Luke 12:42.

Luke 12:42 And the Lord
said, Who then is that faithful and wise
steward, whom his
lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of
meat in due season?

So, among the blasphemous titles of the popes,
which
the Bible so clearly reveals to be the Antichrist, is there one from
which we can count the number 666? Yes, VICARIVS FILII DEI (Taking the
place of, or substitute for the Son of God) is a blasphemous title that
has a long history of use in Roman Catholic documents, to include
official Apostolic Constitutions (papal bulls), and it does equal 666
when the Roman numeral value of the letters are added up. See http://biblelight.net/666.htm
for the historical documentation. Whether it ever appeared on a tiara
or not is no longer of any importance, although I believe it probably
did.

It is also worth noting that Roman Catholics,
while
denying any "official" standing for VICARIVS FILII DEI, will readily
admit that the synonymous VICARIVS CHRISTI is the proper and official
papal title (it does not add up to 666). Well, another perfectly valid
way of saying VICARIVS CHRISTI is ANTICHRIST, both of which mean
"Taking the place of, or a substitute for Christ".

So I would ask brother Kersten to reconsider his
abandonment and ridicule of the application of 666 to the papal title
VICARIVS FILII DEI, and instead take all the misguided rubbish
published on this topic by the so called "leading scholars" and make a
generous deposit at a local landfill. He has no further need of them.

Herb's Strawman

Herb Kersten has revised Unknown Facts About 666
on his website in response to this refutation. On page 5 he made the
following assertion:

· The Vicarius Filii Dei approach links the Antichrist to
the
pope alone and ignores the link that John makes to ancient Babylon –
from which papal Rome gained much of its religion. With six hundred
sixty and six John is establishing pagan Rome as the second Babylon.
The Vicarius Filii Dei approach breaks this important Biblical link.
...
Thus to limit the ‘blasphemy’ characteristic to a single male person
flies in the face of a much broader picture that is in view in Rev 13:1
which applies blasphemy to a perverted religious system. That
system is the Roman Catholic system rather than a single pope. Gematria
however tends to limit culpability to a person and not the system. The
interpretation in this paper applies it to the system.

That is what is known as a strawman. No
Seventh-day
Adventist has ever limited their interpretation of antichrist in Daniel
and Revelation to one man, they have always taught that the Antichrist,
the man of sin according to Paul (2 Thes 2:3-12), was the dynasty of
popes, the papal system if you will, as is plainly evident from the
1260 day, 42 month, 3 1/2 times day for a year prophecy, which applies
to 538 to 1798 A.D., which negates any one man as being the
fulfillment. The current Pope is merely the most recent in this dynasty
to be vicarius filli dei, by no means is he the only man to which it
applies. Mystery Babylon, the harlot mother is how the apostate church
is depicted, which has a man at its head with a blasphemous name (a
title as shown above), that when counted yields six hundred sixty six.
Those are the biblical facts.

The following was also on page 5:

While all the Biblical data is clear enough
that
Papal Rome is the modern Antichrist and will form part of the apostate
trinity of Babylon in the end times, an interpretation of six hundred
sixty and six using gematria arrives at a nearly correct answer for the
wrong reason - a good cause can be destroyed by over-statement. The
historical-Biblical method is more firmly based and more easily
defended from Scripture alone than from gematria alone.

Herb knows better than this. No Seventh-day
Adventist
has ever used 666 and gematria as the only evidence by which the papacy
is identified as the man of sin. Adventists as a denomination have been
clear that Daniel 7:25 is the primary characteristic by which the
little horn can be indicted, that is to say the little horn thinks to
change the times and laws of the most high, as is evident from Rev.
14:6-12, which has been proclaimed by Seventh-day Adventists from their
beginning over 150 years ago. Yes, it is sheer folly to employ 666 in
isolation, as Herb did in his video on 666. But the Adventist church
has never done this.